On sindark.com

sindark.com might seem like a rather random URL for this site, which consists of a mixture of posts on climate change, photography, Ottawa, and other general subjects of interest to me. The genesis of the name is a long one. Back when I was an undergraduate at UBC, a friend of mine exposed me to the James Joyce poem “Nightpiece” which contains the sonorous line: “Night’s sindark nave.” I chose that as the title for my blog at the time, which was still produced and hosted using Google’s Blogger service.

The site underwent several evolutions – moving to a private hosting company and eventually to being managed through WordPress. It also got a major update after I finished at UBC. Along with that update came the new name: “a sibilant intake of breath”. As such, the current name has nothing to do with the current URL, except insofar as both are taken from literature.

The address of the site is potentially problematic, insofar as it contains misleading theological overtones. It may communicate something a bit useful, in that this site is pretty anti-religious, but that is hardly the most important thing to highlight. As such, it is probably a good idea to eventually migrate to a new address, probably leaving all the old content where it is now.

The new address should ideally be something short and memorable, which is certainly challenging in a crowded internet landscape. I would strongly prefer for it to be .com, rather than .org or .net or anything like that. That preference isn’t driven by the view that .com sites are commercial. Rather, I just see .com as the default and easier for users to remember and use than any of the alternatives. It also offers the most flexibility, since the content of the site is not partly linked to the name.

Something like milanilnyckyj.com or ilnyckyj.com would be possible, but both are impossible to spell and less memorable than a more common word or combination of words. Perhaps I should dig back through some of my favourite pieces of writing to find a snippet of text that passes the tests of being concise, sticking in the mind of the reader, and being available with a ‘.com’ appended to the end.

Author: Milan

In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. In the fall of 2005, I began reading for an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford. Outside school, I am very interested in photography, writing, and the outdoors. I am writing this blog to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, provide a more personal view of graduate student life in Oxford, and pass on some lessons I've learned here. View all posts by Milan